


A win’s a win

by Gremlin_of_Space



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Drinking, Fluff, Jack says no let’s have some fun, Light Angst, Like, Post-Episode: s12e08 The Haunting of Villa Diodati, Written before Revolution, You’re depressed and everything wrong what else am I meant to do, its canon but also slightly au as in they meet again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gremlin_of_Space/pseuds/Gremlin_of_Space
Summary: Jack didn’t expect to see the Doctor at a bar.The blonde, happy Doctor he tried to warn.You bet he’s gonna make her smile.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25
Collections: Thirsting for Thirteen Server Secret Santa 2020





	A win’s a win

**Author's Note:**

  * For [macaronikit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/macaronikit/gifts).



> For Cordi,
> 
> Happy Holidays! Hope this finds you in fine shape. 
> 
> Stay safe, be kind. 
> 
> Love,  
> Frey (Gremlin)

Jack Harkness was extremely surprised to see the Doctor,  _ the Doctor,  _ sitting at a bar. 

It wasn’t the first time he had seen the Time Lord in this sort of venue. Her tenth self rocked up to the club Jack was at and hooked him up with a sailor but back then it was purely a drop and go. Not a drink-yourself-into-a-stupor kind of meeting. 

_ Oh, Alonso, didn’t we have some fun time.  _

This Doctor was new and yet so familiar. 

“Hey, Jack.” There was that all too familiar darkness as she stared down into her glass, swirling the ice cube in the cloudy drink. 

“Hey…” 

“I did it.” She was looking at the mirror that backed the bar, her reflection betraying the frazzled nature she felt inside. 

“Did what?” Jack slid into the barstool next to her, flagging the bartender down to order a whiskey. The Doctor took a solid swig of her ginger beer, finishing it off and promptly ordering another. “How many drinks are you on?” 

“Two.” 

“Doctor…”

“Dont.” 

They sat in silence, nursing their respective drinks. 

“I gave the Lone Cyberman the Cyberium.” Her words were slightly slurred, this regeneration not being used to ginger. Jack was worried for his friend and, admittedly, he had no idea what to do. “I know I messed up big time but I don’t know what to do.”

“Same.”

Once again, awkward silence filled the gap and Jack couldn’t help but study the new Doctor. Her hair, blonde with darker roots, had become fluffy through stressed hands running through hair and he spotted several smile lines on her face. She looked like the Doctor that would beam at anything, laugh and be bubbly. 

It was infuriating to see her wallow at a bar. 

“Right, come on then.” Jack knocked back his drink before pulling her up and off her barstool. “We’re gonna have some fun.”

The arcade nearby was open and had a range of retro and new games from across the quadrant, including Earth. The bright lights flickered on the pavement, music blasting from the open windows. The Doctor protested of course until Jack picked her up, carried her a solid few metres into the arcade itself and promptly dropped her to her feet. 

The reaction was instantaneous. 

Her eyes took in the lights, her ears listening to the boom of music and the clang and pop from the machines, her nose twitching at the smell of an eight-hundred year old Chicago pizza recipe being baked. 

Her smile made Jack smile. 

“So, I didn’t screw up?” The Doctor shouted over the speakers. He faltered for a moment. 

“Nah, you never do!” 

“Well, this has been great and all but I need to clean up the future if this is meant to exist.” It wasn’t the renewed sense of purpose that had the immortal concerned but the sudden shift from sad to happy. Being happy for a thirty seconds meant bollocks if she was to return to her TARDIS and presumably  _ wallow.  _

“You’ve got a  _ time machine _ . Spend a few hours with me.” She looked unsure. “Come on, Doc. You’ve never beaten me at Pac-Man.”

The scronch meant he had baited her into staying. She stepped forward, poking a finger into his chest. 

“I won those games-“

“How is turning a classic into a four-dimensional game that only you know how to win-“

“It was broken and needed fixing.”

“It’s meant to be pixelated-“

“It’s stupid and archaic.”

“You’re only saying that because  _ you’re _ a sore loser.”

“Oi! Everybody! We got a fight on the ground floor.” The music dropped and so did the lights, a spotlight sounding drowning the two of them in pink and blue as a booming voice, probably the owner, spoke. “You know the rules: any fights must be dealt on the machines.” 

There was a cheer from the patrons. Jack raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. 

“Pac-Man?”

“Pac-Man.”

They were escorted to two arcade games, both in outstanding condition as if they were made yesterday (the Doctor would probably take a look at that) and were handed a coin each. 

The coin, similar to an American quarter, allowed them to play until they died (in the game) and the person with the highest score wins two slices of that mouth-watering pizza. 

They battled. 

The Doctor may have three brains and comes from a time faring civilization but Jack lived through the arcade period. He had everything memorised and as the points started to rank up, the cheering became deathly silent. They were into the thousands now, a point that, theoretically, was meant to get harder. 

An hour had passed and the two stubborn time travellers were neck and neck. Jack glanced over at the Doctor and he caught her chewing her lip, eyebrows furrowed. 

He ran into a ghost at intermittent times and soon, he lost the game. 

The crowd cheered and he picked the Doctor up who was giggling in delight. The game didn’t matter, all that did was seeing her truly happy for a while, a period longer than a moment. 

“Congratulations, Doctor, you’ve won two slices!” Two triangular pizza boxes materialised in front of the Doctor and with the most blinding smile, she handed one to Jack. 

“You shouldn’t have folded the game!” She wasn’t angry, no, she was ecstatic. A win's a win. 

“Get me next time?” Please, let there be a next time. 

“You’re on!”


End file.
